Shedeur Sanders finally had the opportunity to show what he can do on an NFL field – and he took it.
It may only be preseason but the son of NFL legend and Hall of Famer Deion Sanders shone under the bright lights in his first start for the Cleveland Browns.
Sanders had an impressive rookie debutGettyWith all eyes on the 23-year-old since an all-time slide in the 2025 NFL Draft, Sanders certainly played with a chip on his shoulder that has many around the league second-guessing their initial valuations on the quarterback prospect.
Completing 14 of his 23 pass attempts in which he threw for 138 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for another 19 yards, Sanders led the Browns to a convincing 30-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
He outplayed Panthers veteran quarterback Andy Dalton, who threw for just 101 yards off of 13 completions and had an interception.
As such, this has led – often controversial – media personality Skip Bayless to issue a stark warning to all over 31 teams in the NFL about passing on Sanders, as well as taking a swipe at Browns owner Jimmy Haslam.
“Shedeur Sanders made the entire National Football League look like a whole bunch of petty fools,” Bayless said in a video posted to his X (formerly Twitter) account.
“Tonight at Carolina, Shedeur Sanders made all those teams that had 143 chances to draft him before he went 144th, he shamed all of them, including the Cleveland Browns who finally took him in the fifth round – I’m convinced only because the owner, the publicity-starved owner, wanted some more shock value publicity…
“He knew it would make a story that might distract the rest of the world from the mess that Jimmy Haslam has made of the Cleveland Browns, especially after he gave $230 million to Deshaun Watson.”
Bayless added that he thought Sanders was ‘him’ right from the jump, before the quarterback went into his final college season at Colorado and completed 74.0 percent of his passes for 4,134 yards, and 37 passing touchdowns, along with an additional four rushing touchdowns
“I said before the last college season started that Shedeur Sanders should go number one overall,” Bayless continued. “It was either he or Travis [Hunter] one, two, two, one, and I would go for every time the quarterback because he is the quarterback. He is HIM.
“He is the son of the greatest cornerback, and to me, the greatest athlete ever. Greatness flows through his veins, and I said it all year long that he should go one in the draft, ahead of Cam Ward.”
Bayless went off on a 16 minute rant talking about how Sanders should have been the first pick in the 2025 NFL DraftX/ @RealSkipBayless Sanders’ performance has made many question why he slipped to the fifth round of the draftGetty Sanders has taken advantage of his opportunity to get some game repsGettySanders has been entrenched in a four-way quarterback battle during training camp, that recently became five after the Browns picked up veteran Tyler Huntley back at the start of August.
Listed as the fourth-string quarterback on the Browns’ first depth chart of the 2025 season, Sanders knew that any opportunities that would come his way would be limited, so he would have to make the most of it.
He has had some luck on the way with Kenny Pickett having unfortunately picked up a hamstring injury during the first week of training camp, which has seen his number of reps slightly increase.
However, being named the starting quarterback in a preseason encounter is usually a backward honor, with many teams opting to rest their starters to avoid any injuries.
With that in mind, many believe that Sanders is being set up to fail by an organization that is using him as a small pawn in their quarterback game.
This mainly stems from the fact that the rookie has received little-to-no first team snaps in practice, yet was still expected to take to the field against the Panthers who gave some reps to their first-team defense.
There was also the fact that Haslam made some shocking comments in which he entirely distanced himself from drafting the Colorado standout.
Despite this, Sanders was self-critical of his performance, and told NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe that he graded his performance a ‘C+’.
“This is a good practice showing overall,” Sanders said. “I feel like I did everything I could tonight. There’s definitely room for improvement in many areas overall. It’s just consistency and getting in my groove…
“I would say a C+ [for his performance]. It’s passing because we’ve got the wind, that’s extremely important. But pops said ‘take advantage of your opportunity’ and I don’t feel like I did, so I feel like I let him down a little bit.”
However, even with a stacked quarterback room, the owner’s comments, and all the outside noise, Sanders still rose above it and shone, and his performance has certainly some raised some eyebrows from those who maybe doubted him.
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